String damper built, hell yah, it works....but...

[Paul Marossy]

Sounds cool. Little different than the Slow Gear... like you say, it kicks in when you start playing and is otherwise kind of "off" the rest of the time.

[pinkjimiphoton]

yah, once ya get it dialed in right, it's pretty cool!!

takes a little while...you have to kind of "coax it" a little more than a slowgear or something. but towards the end, i finally got it set right where some of the runs started to get that "backwards" quality to 'em.

[Mark Hammer]

All those things work like noise gates, in that they have to "know" when you've picked something.  In that regard, they share something what about 80% of all guitar synths: you have to adjust your picking.

One of the best of the analog reverse-tape emulators was the EHX Attack-Decay.  I've never played one, but the schematic tells a lot about it.  It uses an MN3007 to introduce just a bit of delay, from what I understand so that the note onset can be detected with "looser criteria".  It also includes some selectable clipping.  Keep in mind that all the harmonics are normally at the beginning of what you pick.  Realistically simulating tape-reverse involves not only having a volume swell, but shifting the harmonic content so that it increases as the note swells.  reverse settings on digital delays can do that automatically.  Analog simulators that simply re-map the dynamics have to figure out how to compensate for the way in which they keep the volume low for the very point in the note when the harmonics are at their greatest.

One way to more accurately mimic reverse tape in the analog domain is to set some clipping device near the edge of breakup, so that as the swelling note hits its peak volume, you get some distortion instroduced.  And oif course, that implies putting the distortion circuit AFTER the volume swell pedal.

[pinkjimiphoton]

or, like i tend to do, fuzz before and distortion after!

[Paul Marossy]

All those things work like noise gates, in that they have to "know" when you've picked something.  In that regard, they share something what about 80% of all guitar synths: you have to adjust your picking.

Yeah, it's quite dependent on your picking dynamics (or how hard you pluck the strings if using your hands)

One way to more accurately mimic reverse tape in the analog domain is to set some clipping device near the edge of breakup, so that as the swelling note hits its peak volume, you get some distortion instroduced.  And oif course, that implies putting the distortion circuit AFTER the volume swell pedal.

With my Slow Gear clone, I think it sounds much better with it before any distortion pedals. And I like how it responds better too.

[artifus]

re: pick dynamics - could a pot be added to adjust sensitivity without affecting audio? r14? maybe a simple rc delay too? also, switchable caps for attack/decay times? c9?

tracing the board in diylc - will post layout later.

[pinkjimiphoton]

tried it without the distortion too, didn't like it as much. it works, but it's just too clean. i'll try it in front of something tonite and see what i think.

i believe the 2.2 cap may be better off being about half that size...it takes a while to charge the cap, and then discharge it if i understand it correctly..

is there any way to make it discharge faster, or is that what the decay pot is for? there's DEFINITE sweet spots where the thing is amazing, some spots, not so much.

beginning to think prr is on to something tho, wondering why it's so bloody hard to control consistently. i may have screwed something up. wouldn't be the last time, neither. 

[artifus]

http://www.pdf-archive.com/2012/09/05/stringdamp-2/stringdamp.pdf

*oops!* missed a bit.    think it's fixed - best check it over before printing.

[pinkjimiphoton]

looks great art!

but don't forget the jumpers bro!

[Fp-www.Tonepad.com]

awesome.

[artifus]

not quite - just spotted another missing trace between r9 and r10. will fix and edit a link into this post later, ignore the link above. this was done in a hurry, c9 and r14 were a bodge fix too and looking again c8's pad looks wonky, i'll tidy it up a bit if i can but don't know if or when i'll get around to this project having heard it now - not as dramatic an effect as i was expecting. i could email the diylc file to anyone who wants to do a proper job of it, let me know.

* http://www.pdf-archive.com/2012/09/06/stringdamp-3/stringdamp.pdf *

*gah!* r18 c5 and d2 d3 bridges and missing links fixed - doh! - only the trace mask, bottom left, is fixed.

[pinkjimiphoton]

awesome.

wow!! francisco!!! dude!! been surfing your stuff on the archive, thanks for a cool project!!

[pinkjimiphoton]

arti,

it's a lot cooler sounding than i could do in this stupid pedal trick..

used it live the other nite, with a fuzzface in front of it, and a rebote all the way at the end,

and NON musicians were coming up asking me how i managed to play "backwards" on the hendrix stuff..

well worth a breadboard, IMHO. just remember to change them two resistors, and i'd reccomend a 4 position time switch... 100n, 1u, 2.2u, and 4.7 u

the smaller the cap, the faster the swell. there's a REAL sweet spot about 11:00 on both knobs where it does it's thing really well.

and the more i use it, the more convinced i am in the original article it was a typo....not 4.7k and 10 k for r13 and 15, but definitely 47k and 100k.

cool pedal...the thing i like best is that it DOESN't swell into every note like a slow gear...it'll follow legato lines, and sound like it's phasing/fading in and out.
i did a LOT of backwards guitar stuff over the years, and this is about the closest to nailing that sound i've found. once you start *thinking* backwards, it
becomes really natural.

[TamuT]

Pretty cool effect. Built it with LM13700, but it didn't work at first. Started debugging and found 2 errors on the trace (lay-out was fine). One trace is missing from pin 10 and top right corner pads shouldn't touch. Otherwise works great  Thanks guys!

[pinkjimiphoton]

nekro bump....
revisited this recently, having a LOT of fun with it.

found the pots work best if the wiper isn't tied to the unused lugs.... ymmv

if it's not "loud enough" swap out the input resistor for a smaller one... i went 2.2k and for ME, it's pretty much perfect... imagine 68k would be better, as it's almost a treble boost at 2.2k when it sweeps.

works better with a 13600, 13700 works, but not as well.

and be wary of the schematic for the string damper... it's a little more in depth than the old tonepad project, a few more parts and some different ways of doing things.
definitely worth reading tho.

very cool project if'n you're bored.

[thehallofshields]

So this 'String Damper' is a Swell Circuit that isn't as complex as the Slow-Gear?

Designed by Mark Hammer?

Worthwhile Build?

Vero Layout for Breadboarding?

[pinkjimiphoton]

well, easier?
yes.
les parts? yes.

designed by mark? nope, but he keeps the project archived on his site, it was designed by paul williams, and francisco pena (tonepad) made the project i built, which is a slightly simpler version of the circuit.

vero layout? nope... never seen one. but definitely breadboardable.

on something with a mess of pins from chips, i think plain old perf can be easier to work with. i'd be willing to take a crack at a vero layout, but....

IvIark and Mirosol at tagboard are the SHIZNIT when it comes to layouts imho... i would ask one of them, cuz the odds are better of it being right.

[Mark Hammer]

Designed by Mark Hammer?

Worthwhile Build?

Vero Layout for Breadboarding?

NO!!  RG photocopied the original article and sent it to me ages ago.  I scanned it and posted it on the webspace that Steve T-Boy Morrison gave me over at the former AMPAGE site.  All I did was get it out there.  All other credit goes to others.

Worthwhile?  As many of the previous posts indicate, this thing is not going to stand up and do tricks without a certain amount of effort and planning on the part of the user.  So, worthwhile if you know how or why to use it.  Likely to gather dust if you don't.

[bcalla]

Is this still on the tonepad site?  I would like to download a clean copy of the layout, transfer & schematic, but I can't find it there.

[pinkjimiphoton]

no, it's not on the tonepad site because it was pulled over there being errors. the layout is ok, but the traces have the mistakes mentioned in this thread, and the schematic is subtly different from the one mark archived.

it's not waybackable, i've looked for it extensively. all i had to go by was the tonepad layout, and figure it out looking at mark's schematic... which is almost the same, but different. the original is meant to be on all the time, and kicked in and out via a momentary switch; the tonepad variant was designed to use more traditional bypassing methods.

i did try emailing francesco about a copy of the complete original project file, but haven't heard back from him.

mark IS right too, in that yeah, it works, but it's not a plug n play effect, you've kinda gotta mess with it to find it's sweet spots, and to discover the proper technique... most of it's tracking comes down to your fingers and pick attack. *I* like it, but then i'm a sick fuzzmonger